On Wednesday, the GOP-led Senate rejected a resolution designed to undo President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, an outcome that came down to attendance.
Two members who oppose the tariffs missed the vote — Sen. Shelton Whitehouse (D-RI), who was heading back from a conference in South Korea, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — and the resolution failed to pass in a 49-49 tie.
A motion to reconsider the resolution at a future date followed, but Republicans moved to table it. Ultimately, Vice President JD Vance came in with a tie-breaking vote, ending the bid to undermine Trump’s tariffs.
The resolution, introduced by Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), sought to terminate the national emergency declaration that Trump used to impose his “Liberation Day” tariffs in early April.
In a statement, Paul said tariffs “are taxes, and the power to tax belongs to Congress—not the president. He also declared, “It’s time Congress reasserts its authority and restores the balance of power.”
The tariffs imposed a 10% rate on imports from many nations, with higher rates in some cases. Trump granted a 90-day pause, keeping only the base rate for most countries, but escalated China’s tariffs to 145% after Beijing’s retaliatory measures.
Officials in the Trump administration have been working to negotiate deals to remedy what they say are grievous trade imbalances while a shrinking U.S. economy grapples with the tariffs as well as cuts in federal spending programs.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reportedly said “the tariff issue is something that’s … an open question, but we’re giving them some space to negotiate and see if they can get some good deals.”
The two Republicans who joined Paul in voting to rein in Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday were Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME). McConnell likely would have joined them.
“The Senator has been consistent in opposing tariffs and that a trade war is not in the best interest of American households and businesses,” McConnell’s spokesman said in a statement. “He believes that tariffs are a tax increase on everybody.”
McConnell and the other Republican defectors previously joined forces with Democrats and independents to pass a similar resolution seeking to stop Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian goods.
Still, like with the Canada measure, the “Liberation Day” resolution was expected to hit a wall if it reached the House.
House Republican leadership placed a provision in a rule for the budget reconciliation resolution that blocked members from forcing a vote on the national emergency underlying the “Liberation Day” tariffs, at least until October.
Paul rebuked the lower chamber in a speech, declaring, “The Founders would not have expected the House of Representatives to become so craven as to not even allow a vote on ending the emergency.”
On Monday, the White House issued a veto threat against the Senate “Liberation Day” measure.
“This resolution would undermine the Administration’s efforts to address the unusual and extraordinary threats to national security and economic stability, posed by the conditions reflected in the large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficit,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
Congress may not be done trying to restrain presidential tariff powers.
A bipartisan pair, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), introduced a bill to require congressional approval within 60 days for unilateral tariffs imposed by the president or else they would expire, plus the measure would give lawmakers to end the levies at any time.
